Rural land rights in jeopardy*

Author: Tara Weinberg

More than 2 000 people attended a recent government summit on land tenure security. They included large numbers of traditional leaders, but alsofarmworkers, farm dwellers, land reform beneficiaries and people living in the former homelands whose voices are often most marginalised in the national discourse.

While there were some divergent views, one of the clearest messages emerging from rural participants was this: people want to choose the form of tenure and landholding structure for themselves, rather than have a model of land ownership by traditional leaders imposed upon them.